Okay, I don't even know where this thread belongs but I'm taking a stab at it right here.
Anyone here have any experience with aquaculture? Aquaponics?
I've been wanting to do this for years... then I was touring this ag supply facility a few weeks back and they were promoting aqua-ponics. Ya know, running fish water through plant tables to grow food hydroponically. I did some hydroponic and aqua culture stuff back in college but all the pumps and electricity and such... it's not really permaculture.
Anyway, this ag place was selling this system for thousands and like most folks on this site, I'm like "I can build that out of waste materials." But I'm still waffling on the pumps and space and lights and all that.
So, last week I saw a 65 gallon fish tank on craigslist for free. I've got 25 tilapia coming tomorrow from a hatchery just across the border in Wisconsin. I'm still not sure about the plants and hydroponics and such... I'll get there. But I'm thinking I'll grow this tilapia over the winter and maybe select a breeding pair. Once spring/summer rolls around I can start moving the fry into some extra large tanks outside that I'm using to collect my rain water.
Has anyone else out there ever done the math and figured out the volume of a 1" rain on their rooftop? It's a ridiculous amount of water. Being way up on a ridge water is pretty far down the hill, but when it rains a little I've got one hell of a catchment!
Bottom line is: anyone else got any experience growing fish for food?